A newly unredacted court filing in the copyright case brought by adult-film companies Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media reveals that Meta’s internal investigation identified employees who appear to have viewed or opened the companies’ films and related files. Strike 3 says the material consisted of pirated copies obtained through BitTorrent and argues that the findings support its claim that Meta downloaded thousands of films to train AI. Meta disputes that account: it says it has found no evidence that the employees or anyone else torrented the films, and maintains that the activity it identified was unauthorized and had no connection to AI training or company benefit.
Meta initially provided Strike 3 with the names of five employees, then said that disclosure was accidental and restricted the names to the producers’ lawyers. Strike 3 says the “attorneys’ eyes only” rule hampers its investigation, and Meta has also reported additional unidentified employees who may have interacted with the material. The filing further says most IP addresses flagged by Strike 3 belong to third parties; Meta’s own addresses largely relate to a public internet service it acquired and later discontinued. In a separate dispute, Meta says an alleged infringer identified as a former Reality Labs executive had already left the company when the activity occurred. Strike 3 contests that timeline, and the employees’ identities remain confidential.
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